Have you ever wondered why Fluency Matters refers to its novels as ‘comprehension-based readers’ ? The answer is because a novel is merely a story that is told using random language. Our readers are anything but random! They are strategically written and painstakingly edited to ensure...
Win-win Situation! Yup, Fluency Matters is ready to give free books to up to TEN winners. Read on to learn how to win a free class set of (25) readers or a Class E-course Subscription for up to 150 students! Most people think of the word “win” in...
Noches misteriosas en Granada is a novel that is particularly dear to my heart. It was the second novel I wrote for Fluency Matters. It was based heavily on an awesome student of mine whom I had taken on a student trip to Spain in...
Vida y muerte en la Mara Salvatrucha is a compelling read for students in levels 3 and up. Written by an anonymous author, it provides a glimpse into the life of a young man entrenched in the ranks of the world's most dangerous gang, the...
Felipe Alou: Desde los valles a las montañas, written by Carol Gaab is one of my favorite novels to teach in my Spanish 2 classes for several reasons. I like that it is a biography which tells the true story of a young man from the...
Games can be a fun break from the normal daily routine of a class. Sometimes just playing a game for a few minutes can invigorate a lagging group of students and prepare their minds for more input. As Carol Gaab frequently reminds us, brains crave...
Last year, I began to implement leveled readers and novels in some of my novice/intermediate low classes. I had always used stories in my classes, but I saved a lot of reading for upper level classes. One of my colleagues and I were able to...
It is mid-February! YEAHuuuuhhhhhh...
[caption id="attachment_31597" align="alignright" width="497"] Arianne Dowd makes novels come alive in her Spanish classes![/caption] Have you ever read Pernille Ripp’s blog “Blogging in the Fourth Dimension”? She is an excellent blogger who is very passionate about “helping students fall in love with literacy again”. She describes...
[caption id="attachment_31593" align="alignright" width="300"] Señora Placido with Spanish 4 students at FHS[/caption] Upper level students (levels 3 and up) present a unique set of challenges for any teacher. Most upper level students are either intermediate level proficiency or are pushing toward intermediate in most of their...
Ready to take a look? You can shop here or view samples of our novels here!...
Teaching your first novel can be a daunting task. Logistically it is quite different from the textbook chapters I was used to in the past. Some teachers integrate novels into an existing curriculum as a one day per week supplement, but I have chosen to...
My love of reading was rejuvenated today. A textbook adoption, followed by a Chromebook adoption, redirected the spotlight, and my novels took backstage for a couple of years. New technology is useful, and new textbooks have lots of bells and whistles, but in the end...
The goal of TPRS Publishing is to give teachers the tools and techniques to teach so effectively that their students end up LOVING to read in the target language! We are continuing our series of quick, affordable webinars for teachers who would like a little...
Join our team of teacher-authors on July 27 for a series of live webinars! Carol will demonstrate how to connect to the character(s) and the text, how to increase comprehension and how to inspire HOT (higher order thinking). Learn how to prepare the class using strategic...
[caption id="attachment_409" align="alignright" width="299"] The Great Carnac?[/caption] I was fortunate enough to attend two exceptional conferences back-to-back and have unique perspectives on each. It’s amazing how perspectives of language instruction/acquisition vary from region to region. In Hawaii (SWCOLT), there seemed to be a large number of...
Word Clouds are everywhere. We see them in advertising, on merchandise, blog sidebar widgets, and—of course—instructional materials shared by teachers. Word clouds are a method of representing data in a visual way: specifically, the words contained within any given text and their frequency. The bigger...
This is the third time that my fabulous colleague, Megan Matthews, and I are teaching Robo en la noche by Kristy Placido. The first time was two years ago and we rushed through it in the final weeks of school, relying heavily on the terrific...
I love teaching my Spanish III and IV classes with novels, and I have done several posts about the novels that I use. Currently, I am using Vida y muerte en la Mara Salvatrucha with my Spanish IV classes for the second time. Sometimes my...
Recently the topic of novel selection and usage in a particular class level has come up in several forums including CI Peek and the iFLT/NTPRS/CI Teaching Facebook page. I’d like to join the discussion by sharing my recent experience during which there was a slight...
Recently there was a post on the iFLT/ NTPRS/ CI Teaching Facebook page (join us there if you are not already a member! Great discussion!) on the topic of "failing readers." The scenario was...
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="512"] Photo: Pavel Krok CC BY-SA 2.5[/caption] In my classroom I teach 2-4 readers per year. When selecting readers, I want to choose books that are going to be at a comfortable level for the students. I err on the side of “too...
[caption id="attachment_116" align="alignright" width="800"] photo: AntanO CC BY-SA 4.0[/caption] Last week I mentioned how much I love and recommend Dave Burgess' book Teach Like a Pirate. In his book, Dave recommends using "hooks" to engage students more deeply in the lessons you teach. I want to...
Whenever I travel to a conference or inservice, teachers ask “Can you tell me exactly what I need to do to teach a reader?” Well, I have a couple of initial responses to this question. First, there is no “wrong way to eat a Reese’s.” Second, I...
To kick off our new blog, CI Peek, we decided to celebrate with something really fun. You’ve probably heard of Flat Stanley. He’s a little paper guy who travels the world. Well, TPRS Publishing is proud to introduce Flat Brandon! Brandon Brown would love to...